Can Joe Biden’s proposed Middle East trip unite fractured region by aligning militaries against Iran?

US President wants to table ‘national security programme’ for Israel and eight Arab states into an alliance against Iran when he visits Saudi Arabia next month

Biden’s planned visit comes amid a stalemate between the West and Iran on reviving a nuclear deal that would prevent Tehran from developing nuclear weapons

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US President Joe Biden is scheduled to make travel to the Middle East in mid-July where he is expected to try and convince regional powers to integrate their militaries in an alliance against Iran. Photo: Reuters

Published: 8:00pm, 15 Jun 2022

United States President Joe Biden will have a tough time selling his proposal for America’s Middle East allies to integrate their militaries into an alliance against Iran when he visits the region next month, influential analysts said.

Biden told reporters on Saturday that his first visit to the Middle East would see him table a “national security programme” for Israel and eight Arab states at a scheduled summit in Saudi Arabia in mid-July.

The conference will be hosted by the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), which comprises Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Although Biden did not elaborate on the parameters of the programme, top US officials have since November pressed their Arab allies to join what Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett last week referred to as the new “regional architecture”.

July’s summit will also be attended by leaders of Egypt and Jordan, but Israel is not invited because it does not have formal relations with four of the participating GCC nations.

Arab-Israeli differences over Palestine are just one of the fierce disputes which would make it difficult for Biden to sell his integrated defence proposal, the analysts said.